It's Never Too Late
by unagi23
Summary: Ross and Rachel must decide how they feel about each other. This takes place at the end of the season 8 finale.
1. Chapter 1

**It's Never Too Late**

**I do not own these characters.**

**(This story takes place at the end of TOW Rachel Has a Baby)**

Was Janice right? Was she really going to be alone in all of this? But Ross was with her now, and everything seemed to be going okay. Maybe something could still happen. "You know what I was, I was thinking about?"

"Huh?"

_Here goes nothing._ "Umm…that kiss before we left the apartment. That was some-something huh?"

Ross knew something like this would happen. Just because they had a baby together didn't mean there were feelings between them. What had the others been telling her?

"Yeah. Yeah, it really was. But we…we gotta be careful. We…we can't let that happen again, y'know?"

She paused for a moment. "Right."

_At least she seems to understand._ "I mean we don't want to go down that road do we?"

Rachel thought about what Ross was asking her. Did she really? This was Ross. But things seemed to be different lately. "Well..I-I don't know. maybe?"

"Wha..What?"

"I mean, would it really be so terrible to try dating again?"

He was stunned. "You're not serious are you?"

"Well, yeah."

The room was silent as dozens of thoughts entered their heads.

_Back together? Why does she want to get together now? I've moved on, she's moved on. Why all of a sudden does she want to start things up again?_

_Why doesn't he want to try to make things work? We just had a baby together, that's got to mean __something._

Ross just couldn't handle everything that was going on. "Oh! I forgot to get you a soda!" he said and left the room.

Rachel couldn't believe it. _Maybe Janice was right._

--

On his way to the vending machine, Ross bumped into Phoebe.

"What's with you? You act all stressed."

"Rachel wants to get back together."

"What?! Oh that's great!"

_Was she kidding?_ "It's not great. She's not thinking straight at all. Doesn't she remember what happened last time we dated and broke up? We couldn't even be in the same room. And..I don't want that to happen again."

"Who says you are going to break up?"

"Well if she decides to go on another break.."

"Oh get over it already! Obviously she has."

Unwilling to listen to Phoebe's lectures, he headed back to the room.

"You're her lobster!" she shouted at him.

--

When he walked in, Rachel was admiring their sleeping baby. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Listen," she began. "I think you're right. Maybe it's best if nothing more happens between us."

"It would probably best."

Rachel let out a sigh. "Yeah."

Ross hated seeing her so upset. Especially when he was the cause of it.

"Listen, Rach," he said sitting next to her on the hospital bed and resting his hand on her shoulder.

And when she looked into his eyes, all of their history seemed to come flooding back to him. Suddenly he remembered how much he loved being with her; as a couple.

"Let's date again."

"What?"

"I want to date you again."

"Really?"

Ross leaned over and kissed her. "Never been more sure in my life."


	2. Chapter 2

**Another Chance at Love**

Rachel Green was at a high point in her life. She had just had a beautiful baby girl, she was surrounded by wonderful friends, and something was finally going to happen between her and the father of her child. Things just couldn't get any better.

She was admiring her daughter when Monica popped her head in. "Hey," she whispered, trying not to disturb Emma. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Monica walked over to the bed and casually sat down next to Rachel. "How are you doing?"

"Sore," she replied with exhaustion visible in her voice. "And tired."

"I meant how are you feeling about the 'doing this all alone' thing. Are you still okay with it?"

"I'm not going to be alone."

Monica sighed. "Rach, honey..."

"Ross and I are going to start dating."

"What?!" she yelped, forgetting to keep her voice down. "I mean, 'what!' Are you serious?"

For Emma's sake, Rachel tried to hold back her excitement. "Mhmm."

"Oh that's great!"

The new mother looked once again at her baby and just couldn't quit smiling. "Yeah, yeah it is."

--

Thanks to Monica, word of Ross and Rachel dating again got around quickly. The only person who didn't receive the memo was the one person who it involved; Ross.

When he went to talk to his friends in the waiting room, he found them smiling at him in an almost eerie fashion. "Okay, what's going on?"

All that he got back were giggles from Phoebe and Monica.

"You guys are really freaking me out.'

Still no one answered.

"Well if you guys aren't going to tell me why you are acting so weird, I'm going to go back to Rachel. I really think she could make better use of my time than you."

And with that he walked away, leaving five people with sore cheeks.

--

"Brought you some lunch," Ross said as he walked in the door.

"Oh, that's so sweet."

He handed her a brown bag and proudly watched her open it. "It's your favorite, tuna salad and pickle. I figured you probably missed being able to have it."

Rachel looked up at him with appreciative eyes. "Thank you."

She patted on the bed next to her as a sign for him to come over.

As he sat down he rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that I didn't want to give us a chance before. It's just that.."

"I know what you mean, " Rachel said softly. "But I'm glad we did."


End file.
